By-poll campaign in AP comes to an end

The campaign for the May 29 by-polls in 18 Assembly and 4 Lok Sabha constituencies came to an end on Tuesday evening. The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, participated in election campaign in Hyderabad, while Nara Chandrababu Naidu campaigned in Medak district and Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief, K. Chandrasekhar Rao, in Karimnagar district.

Resignations of TRS representatives had necessitated the by-polls in 16 Assembly and 4 Lok Sabha seats, while Khairatabad is going to polls because of the sudden death of the Congress leader, P. Janardhan Reddy. Terlam in Vizianagaram district is also going to polls following the death of the Telugu Desam MLA, T. Jayaprakash.

More than 9,000 polling stations have been set up for the by-polls and 55,000 police personnel have been deployed to protect them. The Election Commission identified 2,600 polling stations as sensitive and is moving additional forces there.